


Breed

by Milligramme



Series: In Bloom [1]
Category: Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Adachi is 16 during the first chapter, And Iwai is 21, Crossdressing, First Meetings, Found Family, Getting Together, High School Student Adachi, M/M, Pre-Canon, Set about 10 years before P4, Yakuza Iwai, baby Kaoru, the underage thing stops at kisses but I wanted to be sure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2019-11-09 08:13:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17998187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milligramme/pseuds/Milligramme
Summary: Tohru Adachi could only say one thing about the first sixteen years of his life: they had been very uneventful.Munehisa Iwai could only say one thing about the first fifteen years of his life: they had been needlessly eventful and he always got in trouble, even when he was perfectly innocent. It had gotten better for the past six years, though. At least, people were usually right to suspect him now.Tohru's boring life as a serious student ends when he crosses paths with Mune, a mysterious yakuza, and decides that he wants to become like him. Of course, said yakuza has a lot to say about being followed around by a kid, but once Tohru has his mind set, nothing can stop him.Snippets of milestones in their relationship, set over several years.





	1. Of Shortcuts and Short Skirts

**Author's Note:**

> And finally, my lovelies, we've reached the last of my Persona stories! It's the first time I have so much to edit, it's... an experience.
> 
> So get ready for the canon divergence no one has asked for: Adachi meeting Iwai in high school and, hopefully, finding the true meaning of bonds before it's too late!
> 
> As always, a special thank you to my betas, [Akaicchi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akaicchi/pseuds/Akaicchi) and [Rawen](https://rawengrey.tumblr.com/), your #1 Provider of Quality AdachIwai Memes!
> 
> I'd also like to thank divine-umbrella for giving me the idea for this story a loooong time ago. I hope it was worth the wait! (if you were still waiting, if not I'd understand)
> 
> Enjoy!

Tohru Adachi could only say one thing about the first sixteen years of his life: they had been very uneventful. Of course there was that one time, almost ten years ago, when his sister ran away from home to become a makeup artist and never came back, but even that felt more or less like a dream. His parents never mentioned her after she left. All they ever talked about were his grades and how well he was doing at school. All in all, Tohru spent most of his life between normal school and cram school, and then home to do his homework and study some more.

To be honest, he didn’t really mind that. There was probably a time when he resented not being able to socialize or participate in club activities, but he didn’t care anymore. Other people were a pain, and he wouldn’t need anyone if he just studied hard enough.

Anyway.

Up until a couple of months ago, Tohru’s life was very uneventful. Now, however, was another story. It would be pretty long to explain how he ended up with a bunch of guys aggressively hitting on him while he was dressed in a girl’s high school uniform, but it wasn’t like he had anything better to do at the moment. Running away or fighting weren’t viable options given his athletic skills, so tactical retreat in his memories it would be.

_Maybe Aniki would come and save him this time as well?_

Now that Tohru thought about it, the situation was very similar to the one that started this entire chain of events. Even the people involved were the same, although those guys clearly didn’t recognize him.

Like many stories, this one had started with him being late for school—or cram school, in this case—and deciding to take a shortcut. Since he’d used it for years now, he didn’t think about it twice and just rushed his way through the side street, fully focused on his trigonometry lesson from earlier. Unfortunately, he didn’t bump into a sexy magical lady or anything cool of the sort. He just walked straight into a guy hitting on some chick, and fell down while the other barely moved. The girl ran away as soon as the moron and his friends turned their attention to him, and of course they had to vent their anger on Tohru.

 _“Sorry, I’m late for cram school and I was too busy with math to notice you”_ wasn’t a good excuse, apparently, and the situation could have really turned bad for him if Aniki hadn’t come to the rescue that day.

Well, maybe he didn’t come to save him. Maybe he was just taking the same shortcut, didn’t see those guys either and bumped into one of them, making the man lose balance while he kept walking straight through them. In any case, one look from the newcomer and those people were running away like cowards.

It was then that Tohru made a very important decision: he wanted to be like this guy. And what better way to become like him than to follow him everywhere, right?

It had been a few months, and he hadn’t learned as much about Aniki as he would have liked. It had been hard to find him again, without mentioning that even though Tohru was still in his second year of high school, he didn’t have a lot of free time. He now came home later than usual, telling his parents that he was doing his homework with friends from cram school, and since his grades hadn’t dropped, he got away with this excuse.

What he knew about Aniki at the moment wasn’t much: his name was Munehisa Iwai (he had only said his full name once, and Tohru was very pleased to have caught it), people usually called him Mune, and he was apparently part of a local clan of yakuza called the Hashiba, which probably explained the coolness and the sense of danger that was oozing from him.

That being said, the long dark hair that fell on his face and the burning gray eyes beneath probably helped a lot. Hence, Tohru had refused to cut his hair ever since their first encounter.

_It was starting to get pretty long, but it still didn’t make him look more intimidating… If anything, it only made him look more like a girl, which wasn’t really helping._

Another thing he had learned pretty early on was that Aniki was very observant, and despite his best efforts, his secret admirer was caught not too long after he started studying him.

“Look, kid, I’m pretty sure you should be studying right now, and I don’t need some _boy_ following me everywhere. I’ll only tell you this once: go away,” he’d told him one day after cornering him in an isolated place.

_Tohru still remembered how hard his heart was beating back then, and he couldn’t tell if it was from fear or from thrill. The man was close enough that he could smell cigarette on him, but underneath that, there was something sweeter on his breath that he couldn’t quite pinpoint. He still took a mental note that Aniki probably liked sweets, which somehow only added to his coolness._

For some reason, all Tohru could focus on during the exchange was the “boy” part, which all led him to his current situation, namely being stuck with a bunch of creeps trying to flirt with him while he was dressed like a girl, makeup and all.

He had almost been thanking his big sister for giving him all the cross-dressing skills he needed—she’d always wanted a little sister to dress her up like a doll, and never let her brother’s gender stop her from doing so, leading to very traumatic memories—but he truly regretted it now. It had been hard enough to find a current girl’s uniform, and he had to look through his mother’s stuff to find the makeup he needed, and all these hardships only led to this…

_It wasn’t worth it at all! Why did girls even bother?_

Tohru knew that his sister would have done a much better job, but it seemed that his own makeup skills were pretty good already. After all, none of these people seemed drunk and yet, his cover was working perfectly, much to his dismay.

“Come on cutie, say something,” one of the guys said, bringing Tohru back to reality. “Don’t be shy, you don’t need brains with legs like these.”

He gulped, too embarrassed to be offended, and looked behind them, trying to see if a compassionate soul wouldn’t be nice enough to help him. Then, he noticed a familiar man observing him with a seemingly disinterested look from the other side of the road.

_Aniki._

Tohru sent him the most pleading and desperate look he could muster, and after a few seconds, it seemed that Aniki understood the message. He walked toward them without a word, put a hand on the pervert who was talking to Tohru, and said:

“Don’t you think you’re a bit old for her? She obviously doesn’t want to go anywhere with you, so fuck off.”

It was enough to make them leave.

_It was now clearer than ever: Tohru wanted to be him._

“Thanks,” he squeaked, hoping Aniki wouldn’t recognize him.

Of course, it was without counting on how sharp he was. He stared at Tohru for a few seconds and didn’t even look surprised when he said:

“You again, huh.”

Tohru nodded weakly, and the other grabbed his arm to drag him to a less crowded place. For the second time that day, he found himself with his back against a wall, wondering when it had become such a familiar feeling.

“What do you want?” Aniki asked.

“I told you, Aniki, I—”

The man sighed loudly, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I told you not to call me that.”

“How should I call you, then?”

“Nothing. You shouldn’t call me nothing ‘cause you shouldn’t come anywhere near me. I’m trouble. Shouldn’t you be studying or something?”

“I am. I’m studying you,” Tohru stated.

“And when did you decide that it should involve wearing a skirt?”

He flinched.

“Well, you said you didn’t want a boy following you, so…” he explained weakly, fidgeting with the hem of his skirt.

Suddenly, his explanation didn’t seem as obvious as it was when he first had the idea. It sounded pretty ridiculous, to be honest.

Aniki chuckled.

“Seriously, that’s your reason? And you did a pretty decent job, too. Is that makeup?”

Tohru nodded, and the other sighed. He seemed to think for a second, and finally said:

“I think I see what’s going on here.”

_Did it mean that he was going to accept him?_

“One kiss,” Aniki announced. “I’ll give you one kiss, and then I never want to see your ass around me again. Deal?”

“What?”

“You heard me. That’s my final offer,” he said, crossing his arms.

_Kiss? Did he say ‘kiss’? What did it have to do with the situation? Was it some sort of secret technique? Was there something to learn here? Did he misunderstand the situation maybe? What was happening?!_

“So?” Aniki asked again.

Tohru realized then that his heart was beating a lot harder than it should, and he must have nodded without realizing it because before he could process what was happening, a hand was raising his chin and there were rough lips on his that caused a sudden explosion in his guts, like hundreds of birds taking flight at the same time. He closed his eyes and tried to follow the moves, but the other stepped back too soon, leaving him kissing the air with closed eyes and burning cheeks.

As he opened them to find Aniki staring at him with those sharp grey eyes of his, Tohru understood two things: his admiration had probably been a crush all along, and he wouldn’t be satisfied with just one kiss.

“You got what you wanted, now leave me alone,” Aniki declared before he turned away and strode off in the night.

He was pretty far already when Tohru recovered enough to think about stopping him. But he had made a promise, although against his will, and he had no idea what to say anyway. He stood there for a moment, until he realized that his underwear was feeling very tight, all of a sudden. He looked down apprehensively, and his doubts were confirmed when he noticed the weird way the front of his skirt was falling.

_It looked like he was going to walk home with a raging boner. Great._

Tohru closed his eyes and tried to think about unsexy things, like the old men he regularly saw at the _onsen_ near his place. Of course, it didn’t work. His brain automatically went back to Aniki and his sharp eyes and sweet tobacco smell, the way his lips felt and how deep his voice was, and how sexy he would be in an _onsen_ with water trickling down his muscles… Did he have any tattoos? It would be such an amazing sight…

Tohru sighed. Apparently, there was no way out of this. He put his bag in front of him and held it with both hands, the way he saw some girls do, thanking them mentally before starting his walk of shame.

_The bag was rubbing against his erection and it only made it worse. Perfect._

.

Mune was smoking while waiting for Tsuda to join him. Somehow, after his earlier encounter with the kid, he felt defeated. That boy was strange, there was no other way to put it. First he started following him for no valid reason, and now this? He sighed. He should have left him with those guys.

Mune suspected it was him all along, of course. Only idiots like the ones who were hitting on him wouldn’t have noticed. Yet, as he saw the weird boy’s desperate look, he just couldn’t help himself.

_If he wanted the kid to stay away from him, he should have just walked away. But of course, he couldn’t._

It should be over now anyway, he reminded himself. They had a deal. It was obvious that the boy had some sort of crush on him, and Mune figured that it wouldn’t hurt to give him what he wanted for a promise that he’d stay out of his life after this.

_It was for his own good. It would only put the both of them in trouble if someone found out about him. And what if the kid saw something he wasn’t supposed to?_

Yet, as he crushed his cigarette in the ashtray and replied to a text from a younger member of the clan, all Mune could think of was the kid blushing under the streetlights with his eyes closed, looking like some sort of princess who’d been kissed for the first time.

_It was rather cute…_

Mune shook his head. It was just some brat, way too young for him anyway, so he’d better focus on something else and hope that the kid would go back to a normal high school life. They would probably never cross paths again, from now on.


	2. Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire

Munehisa Iwai could only say one thing about the first fifteen years of his life: they had been needlessly eventful and he always got in trouble, even when he was perfectly innocent. It had gotten better for the past six years, though. At least, people were usually right to suspect him now.

Today, however, wasn’t one of those times.

“Don’t lie to us! Our intel is clear, you’re planning to start your little turf war in this place. Well, let me tell you one thing: not on our watch!”

What did those two cops even want? Mune had no idea what they were talking about. Sure, he knew about the situation, and the intel those guys had wasn’t wrong. However, according to his own sources, it was supposed to happen somewhere else entirely. So why were they here, and more importantly, why were they blaming him all of a sudden?

_It wasn’t even like he could tell them that they were at the wrong club and they were looking for another place. He’d rather die than give directions to a cop, especially one as rude as this guy._

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he replied instead.

It was annoying that he had to stay calm when they were clearly disrespecting him, but it had been drilled into his head that he shouldn’t talk back to cops whenever possible. He should just keep a low profile until they decided that they had enough.

“So you’re calling us liars, huh? Do you think we’re idiots?”

“All I’m saying is that I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mune repeated calmly.

“As if we’re going to believe a shady guy like you! You’re guilty, it’s written all over your face!”

“That doesn’t prove anything. And I’m not lying.”

_Ugh, that was why he hated cops. They saw him and just decided that he had to be guilty of something. Why couldn’t he have a normal Saturday night for once?_

“That’s it! If you don’t talk now, we’re taking you into custody.”

Mune flinched for the first time. That was completely unfair and arbitrary, but it wasn’t going to stop them and they all knew it.

_Was he really going to be held in custody over absolutely nothing, after he’d managed to get out of a major brawl without being caught just the day before? Tsuda would probably laugh at him for a week straight if it happened! And he would never be able to face his boss if he had to make him come all the way to the station just to get his ass out of there. Over absolutely nothing. This was a nightmare, but what was Mune supposed to do here?_

He sighed. He knew he shouldn’t do this, but the best option here was probably to either run away, or knock one of them out and then run away. At least he’d be arrested for something, and there was no way he’d follow them without a fight.

Someone more skilled would have tried to make them understand that they were making a huge mistake, but unfortunately for him, Mune had never been good at negotiating…

“Hey, big bro, that’s where you were!” a voice exclaimed suddenly, coming from nowhere like an angel falling down the Heavens or some religious bullshit like that.

Mune turned toward the source of the call and recognized his savior immediately. It was that damn kid.

_He knew he said he didn’t want to see the brat anywhere near him, but if the little weirdo managed to get him out of here, he was ready to take it back._

“You know this guy, kid?” one of the cops asked.

“Yeah, he’s my cousin from my mother’s side. He just arrived in Tokyo from the boonies and he got a bit lost,” the kid explained casually. He then turned to Mune and continued: “I told you to change trains at Shibuya. How do you get so distracted?”

“He doesn’t seem like someone you should hang around with,” the other cop muttered. “You should be careful, kid. And a good student like you shouldn’t be out at this hour either.”

“I’m sorry, Sir, but there was no one else to come and take him home,” he said with a disarming smile. “I know he looks intimidating, but he’s just a bit shy. He really wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

His explanation seemed pretty efficient, because the two cops were suddenly a lot friendlier. Then, one of them received a call (probably about trouble starting at the actual club they were looking for) and they both left in a hurry after apologizing for the confusion.

Once they were out of sight, the brat turned to Mune with a proud smile.

“See? I can help too!”

Mune sighed. He didn’t want to admit it, but the kid had really saved him a load of trouble here.

“I guess your ‘nice kid’ look can come in handy,” he declared. “That doesn’t explain what you were doing here at this hour.”

“Just walking back from cram school. I finished a bit later because I needed to talk to a teacher,” the kid explained.

“You didn’t have to get involved, though.”

“You seemed to be in a pinch. And cops love me for some reason, so I figured I might help.”

“Thanks,” Mune said reluctantly.

He didn’t want to give the kid more reasons to follow him everywhere, but it would be unfair not to say it.

“It was nothing, Aniki!” he replied with a grin, and Mune’s skin crawled.

“I told you not to call me that.”

“Then tell me what I should call you.”

“We’re not having this conversation again. You should just stay away from me.”

“I don’t want to.”

“We had a deal.”

“But I saved you! Don’t I deserve a reward for this? Doesn’t your code of honor have a thing for this?”

Mune sighed. He’d never heard anything about repaying civilians who talked cops into thinking active members of the yakuza were harmless guys from the boonies, but it did help him a lot.

“I saved you from those guys last time. We’re even,” he replied instead.

“I could help you again. I told you, cops love me! It doesn’t seem to be the case for you.”

“I don’t want your help. Seriously, kid, I could ruin your future. Why can’t you just keep being an honor student?”

The brat stayed silent for a moment.

“How about this: I stop following you, and you agree to meet me sometime,” he replied, completely ignoring the question.

“We had a deal. Just go away already.”

There was something dangerous in the kid’s eyes when he heard that; something that was hurt and angry.

“You don’t have a lot of friends, do you?” Mune asked.

“I don’t have time for that. I’m too busy being an ‘honor student’ like you said.”

“And following criminals around like a newborn duckling, apparently,” he smirked.

“I’m not following criminals. I’m just following you,” the kid pouted.

_So it was really a crush, huh… It was just his luck._

“And why me?” Mune asked.

“Because you’re strong, and cool.”

“There are tons of people who are a lot stronger and cooler than me.”

Now the brat was struggling to find words, and he was even starting to blush.

“I don’t care about them. They wouldn’t save me twice from the same guys.”

_Twice? When was the first time? Was it why the kid decided to follow him in the first place? When did it happen?_

“Look, kid. I’m a low-ranking criminal who never went to high school. I joined the yakuza because I had nowhere else to go. What’s so cool about that?”

“You are.”

This conversation was starting to get increasingly embarrassing. Plus, it was getting late. It wasn’t because Mune didn’t go to high school himself that he didn’t understand the importance of education. And the kid was obviously the stubborn kind, so he wouldn’t give up anytime soon.

“It’s getting late, you should go home,” he still said.

“Do I get to see you again?” the brat asked with a hopeful look.

“No.”

“Then I’m not leaving,” he said with crossed arms.

“Suit yourself,” Mune replied as he started walking away.

Of course, the brat followed him.

Mune sighed.

“If I say yes, will you go home?”

The kid nodded eagerly.

“Just once, okay?”

He nodded again.

“When are you free?”

He nodded again, before realizing that it wasn’t a proper answer.

“Um… I’m free on Sundays,” he quickly replied.

“We can meet here next Sunday, then.”

The brat’s face lit up, and he accepted with a bright grin.

“Thanks, Aniki!”

Mune groaned.

“Call me ‘Mune’, like a normal person. If I hear you call me ‘Aniki’ one more time, I’ll beat your nerd’s ass into the sun.”

“Sure, Mune-san!”

_He looked so happy that it was kind of cute. And Mune wasn’t supposed to think that._

“What about you? I suppose I can’t call you ‘kid’ forever.”

_He should, though…_

“My name is Tohru Adachi,” he introduced himself with a formal bow, as if they were meeting for the first time.

“Tohru-kun, then. You should go home now.”

“Sure! See you, Mune-san!” the kid said with a happy smile before leaving.

He seemed so thrilled that it almost made Mune feel bad about his plan to stand him up. Not that it was going to stop him, of course, because it was the best thing to do here.

_If Tsuda ever heard about_ that _, he would make fun of him until the end of his days for sure. Maybe custody wouldn’t have been so bad after all…_


	3. Young Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh dear I'm so late... Sorry. I have no excuse, really.
> 
> Enjoy?

Mune-san was late. Tohru had been waiting for hours, he was cold, and he’d spent most of the afternoon wondering if something happened, or if maybe he had misunderstood what Aniki said. They hadn’t agreed on a time—which Tohru had been mentally slapping himself for all week—but it was starting to be late. And it wasn’t like he had Mune-san’s number to ask him why he wasn’t around…

_Who was he trying to fool? He was never going to come. Tohru had been played._

He had really thought that it would work. After all, he’d helped Aniki a lot this time. And the way he just saw him by chance after months of just checking on him sporadically… it must have been fate! Right? And yet here he was, sitting on a bench near the place he’d seen Mune-san last time, waiting for nothing. Plus, given how the guy always seemed to find Tohru, there was no way he just didn’t see him.

As Tohru was sulking, a part of his mind already plotting his revenge, someone sat next to him heavily.

“‘Sup, kid?” the newcomer asked with a husky voice.

_Mune-san._

“Hi!” Tohru squeaked.

He didn’t even dare looking up. He had prepared a thousand ways to greet him, but now that Mune-san was actually here, he had no idea what to do or say.

_Maybe it would have been better if Aniki hadn’t come, after all…_

 

Mune had no idea why he came, but he had no regrets. His plans for the day were cancelled anyway, and the kid was hilarious. Mune just had to sit here in silence and watch him struggle to say something and fill the blank. It was going to be great!

_Plus, if it was boring, the kid wouldn’t want to see him again and Mune would finally be free._

“You’re late,” the boy managed to say, eventually.

“Yeah, I wasn’t really planning to come,” Mune shrugged.

_Being rude would probably help, too. Plus, it was the truth._

The kid sent him a death glare; the same hurt and angry kind of look he had last time. However, it wasn’t very threatening given how skinny he was. The boy’s hands looked like they could break if he clenched his fists a bit too hard, and the rest of his body probably wasn’t better. Actually, he looked like a pissed off rabbit, and it was both funny and kind of cute.

Mune realized too late that he was smiling, and anger disappeared from the kid’s expression as he asked:

“Why did you come, then?”

“My other plans got cancelled and I had nothing better to do, I guess.”

“So you don’t have a lot of friends either,” the brat sneered.

“I could always leave,” Mune huffed.

“What? No, stay!” the kid exclaimed with a desperate look.

_That was better._

“Give me a reason to, then,” he smirked.

Tohru was a lot better when he was blushing and at loss, Mune decided.

“Is there something you want to do?” the kid asked after something like a minute of desperate thinking.

He was trying so hard that he was gaping and flailing, and it was a really nice and strange contrast with the ten seconds where he actually looked like he knew what he was doing.

_Although insulting a man who could easily knock him out with one punch wasn’t good thinking. At least, it proved that the little nerd had some guts._

 “So you’re inviting me and you have nothing planned? Tsk, I expected better from you.”

“You’re really not going to make this easy for me, are you?” he asked with a disheartened look.

“Nope. The faster you leave me alone, the better,” Mune replied as he leaned back on the bench.

The kid sighed.

“I’ve found some places around here, but they’re all either for mature people, or for couples. I figured you might have something better to offer.”

“I know a few places,” Mune said thoughtfully. “But I certainly don’t want to be seen with you there.”

“We can stay here, then. I don’t mind as long as I’m spending time with you,” the kid declared, his voice shaking a bit at the last part.

“Some people might recognize me…”

“Not my problem.”

Mune rolled his eyes.

_How could the brat go from cute kid to little shit so fast?_

“Fine, follow me then,” he said as he got up and walked away.

 

Tohru went after him without hesitation, wondering where Mune-san wanted to bring him. The conversation didn’t really take the turn he expected, and he hoped that it would get better, wherever the other was planning to go.

They turned in a few side streets, and he started having doubts. Then, Mune-san opened the backdoor of some nameless building, and Tohru hesitated for the first time. Mune-san held the door for him, asking with a smug smile:

“So, are you coming or what?”

On one hand, this could be a very bad idea. The man was a criminal after all, even though he’d saved him twice. On the other, Tohru really wanted to go. Plus, he was sure that Mune-san expected him to be scared and leave, and he wasn’t going to give him that pleasure.

“Sure,” he replied with a confident smile.

_Who was he trying to kid? It was probably the least convincing smile in the whole History of Fake Confident Smiles._

They walked past a bored guard and took the elevator to end up on the building’s roof.

“We’re here,” Mune-san announced, looking a lot more relaxed than earlier.

“Your secret hideout?” Tohru asked with a perplexed look.

Mune-san chuckled.

“Something like that. It’s a great place to be on your own. And the only other person I might want to bring up here is scared of heights, so…”

“So you really don’t have a lot of friends,” Tohru couldn’t help but say.

“I can throw you off this building, you know” Mune-san reminded.

“I’m not blaming you. I don’t like people that much either.”

“So that’s what you’re telling yourself to forget how lonely you are…”

“Sounds like you’re speaking from experience here.”

“Ha, I wish. Why do you think I need a place to be on my own in the first place?”

Mune-san sat down against the edge, and Tohru decided to do the same, sitting next to him as he watched the man take out a cigarette and a lighter.

“You don’t mind, right?” he asked.

Tohru shook his head, and regretted his decision when the smoke went in his direction and he started coughing like an idiot.

“I should have figured a brat like you wouldn’t like it,” Mune-san snickered before blowing some more smoke in his face.

“I’m fine,” Tohru replied with a choked voice, coughing again.

Mune-san apparently pitied him, because he was careful to blow the smoke the other way after this.

They didn’t talk much, but for some reason, it didn’t feel uncomfortable. Tohru was just happy to be here, and it seemed that Mune-san didn’t mind the silence either.

When the sun set, they decided that it was time to leave, and Tohru realized that there would be no witness if he tried something. He stopped Mune-san and grabbed his shirt, tiptoeing awkwardly to reach his lips. However, he was stopped by a pair of firm hands pushing him back.

“Uh-uh, kid, not happening.”

“Why?” Tohru pouted.

“I’m not interested. And how old are you even? I’m not even sure you’re legal.”

“I’m seventeen, so according to Tokyo’s law, I’m legal, right?”

“Still in the grey zone, though. So this is not happening,” Mune-san replied.

“It’s not like anyone can see us here,” Tohru retorted.

“Sure, but you’re forgetting something: I’m not interested.”

“Would it be better if I was wearing a skirt?” he asked.

_Not that he wanted to do it, but he’d be willing to if it meant getting another kiss._

“No way. You were ridiculous.”

“That’s not what the guys who were hitting on me seemed to think, though…” Tohru declared with a smug smile. “I remember them mentioning how amazing my legs were…”

“Not my type.”

“What is your type then?”

 

Mune sighed. This was getting nowhere.

“Look, kiddo, it’s late. Just go home already.”

“Same time next week?” the brat asked with a hopeful look.

“No way.”

“The week after?”

“You never give up, do you?”

“Nope!” he exclaimed with an idiotic grin.

Mune groaned.

“Just come if you feel like it. I’ll see what I’ll do.”

It seemed to be enough for the brat, who finally left him alone.

Mune clearly wasn’t going to come again, especially if the kid was planning to hit on him. However, he had to admit that he had a nice time. Tohru had some guts for a nerdy brat, he could be silent sometimes, and he was really fun to play with.

_But yeah, not happening. He had plans for the next few weeks anyway._


	4. Getting to Know You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Late again, sorry... I'll do better next time, I promise!
> 
> Today, Mune and Tohru get to know each other and talk about books.
> 
> Enjoy!

Tohru was waiting on the same bench as usual. Mune-san usually came at random times, if at all, but he had noticed that the man came more and more often, so it was worth trying. The weather was still chilly, but it was a nice and sunny day, so Tohru didn’t really mind staying outside, even if it was for nothing. Since he had no idea how long he was going to wait, he’d taken the habit of always bringing a book with him. Plus, his parents would kill him if they knew he was reading a light novel instead of a “proper book”, so it was the perfect occasion to do it.

Tohru didn’t look up when he saw someone walk closer and sit next to him without a word. Still, his eyes missed a line as his heart started beating faster with anticipation.

_He should be used to it by now… Would he ever stop reacting like this?_

“So you really don’t have anything better to do on Sunday than hang out with a yakuza?” Mune-san asked.

“Neither do you, apparently,” Tohru replied easily. “And I’m just a kid, according to you. So you’re the pitiful one here.”

These snarky comments came out naturally now. Over the past few months, his blind admiration had turned into something more relaxed where he was starting to see the man’s flaws. Now that Mune-san was off his pedestal, it was becoming a lot easier to talk to him, and for some reason, he seemed to appreciate it.

_It didn’t change anything about his crush, though… But that was another story._

 

“So you finally cut your hair, huh,” Mune remarked after a moment of silence where the kid didn’t even look up from his book. “Did your teachers force you to, or do you trust a guy like me more than them?”

Tohru flinched.

“It was always in my eyes. I don’t know how you do it,” he finally replied, still not looking at him.

_He was blushing, though._

“Plus, you’re not the best person to give me fashion advice,” he added, closing his book to look him in the eyes.

“Or any kind of advice, really, and yet you always seem to follow it,” Mune smirked.

“I didn’t cut it because of you,” the kid spat, narrowing his eyes.

“And you didn’t grow it out because of me either, right?”

The brat opened his mouth to retort, and ended up turning his head to look resolutely in front of him with crossed arms. Mune snickered, which seemed to annoy Tohru even more. The kid was even starting to pout, and Mune’s laughter died when he realized that he found it adorable.

_Tohru was just some brat, and a boy at that. Mune wasn’t supposed to think of him this way._

“It’s still messy as hell,” he remarked to think about something else. “Are you even trying?”

“It’s always like this,” the kid deadpanned. “Look,” he added before flattening it a bit.

The cowlicks were back in less than a minute. Mune stifled a laugh.

“Okay, I’m not arguing with that,” he replied.

They stayed silent for a moment, both lost in their own thoughts. It was something Mune liked about the kid: he babbled a lot when he was nervous, but when he wasn’t, he knew how to appreciate a good moment of silence.

_If only some of his friends could be like this…_

“Aren’t you scared of people seeing you with me now?” Tohru asked.

“We’re just sitting on the same bench. We’re barely looking at each other. I think we’re good for now.”

“Would you be embarrassed if I came closer, then?” the brat asked with an annoying smile.

_He could also be a pain sometimes._

“If you wanted to go on the roof, you could’ve asked,” Mune declared.

“Do I get a kiss if we go?” the kid asked with a goofy smile, poorly hiding the glint of hope in his eyes.

“No. Do you ever give up?”

“Not after what happened last time.”

Mune sighed. He hadn’t come for a while after that event, and he’d really hoped that the brat would stop talking about it.

He didn’t know what had gotten into him that day. Was it the slight hangover from the night before? Was it the chick with the messy hair and long legs that turned him down? Was the kid trying harder than usual? Whatever it was, it ended up with Mune letting the brat kiss him. It was clumsy and inexperienced, but his innocence felt refreshing compared to the people Mune was used to. He’d indulged in it for a moment, remembering the girl from the night before, and only came back to his senses when Tohru let out a needy whimper.

He’d sent the kid home after that, trying to ignore the pain and disappointment in his eyes, and he’d really thought that Tohru would never come near him again.

_Of course, he was wrong._

Mune had no idea why he came back after that. He didn’t even know why he was here now. He had told the kid that it would never happen again, but it was useless. Teens could be pretty stubborn after all, and this one seemed even worse than average…

“We didn’t go there last time either,” Tohru remarked. “Could it be that you’re avoiding it?”

Mune groaned.

“I’m trying to save your pride here. At least you behave when we’re here, and you don’t have to look ridiculous trying to hit on me.”

_He shouldn’t have brought that up, especially since the kid was right. His flirty act was ridiculous for sure, but there was something endearing about it that Mune couldn’t pinpoint, and he hated it._

“Why are you so against it? It’s not like I’m underage,” the brat pouted.

“You’re still in the grey zone. And in high school, which makes you even more of a baby.”

Tohru rolled his eyes and declared:

“I know you’re not as bad as you make it sound, but you’re technically a criminal. So why do you care so much about the law, all of a sudden?”

“I told you, cops hate me. And if I get arrested because I slept with a minor, especially a boy, no one—”

“So you admit that you want to,” the brat interrupted.

“I didn’t say that,” Mune retorted.

“You technically did.”

“Shut up and listen, brat. My point is, ‘if you keep the small rules, you can break the big ones’,” he explained, quoting his boss’ words.

“Is that from 1984?” the kid asked.

“No idea. What is it?”

“A foreign novel about a totalitarian state. It was on the reading list last year,” Tohru shrugged.

“Is it any good?”

“I liked it,” he replied with a shy smile, as if he was ashamed of it. “It’s pretty serious, and it’s the kind of story where all hope is dead. The characters can’t do anything to improve the situation, they’re just there to show how grim and desperate their reality is. But it’s pretty interesting to see them struggle, you know.”

It was in moments like these that Mune realized the gap there was between them. Tohru knew so many things that Mune had no idea even existed. Of course, he knew that most of this knowledge was forced on him. The kid had told him about his education, and how his parents could be incredibly controlling about what he read and did at home, yet they never asked questions about what he did outside as long as he kept having good grades.

_Likewise, Mune had started telling him about his own childhood and how he ended up dropping school for the yakuza. Even now, he still had no idea why he did that._

Still, he couldn’t help but be a bit envious, sometimes. After all, he had been a curious kid, before society destroyed his will to learn by branding him a delinquent before he even had a chance to prove his worth.

“I might check on it,” he decided. “Is it hard to find?”

Tohru’s summary had piqued his interest, and the kid seemed really into it, even though he was trying to hide it. He gave Mune a surprised look when he heard his question and asked:

“You really want to read it?”

“Why are you so surprised? I can read,” Mune frowned.

“I know, it’s just…”

He paused, took a few seconds to think, and sighed.

“Nothing. I didn’t think you’d be interested.”

“Maybe I won’t like it, but it’s worth a shot,” Mune shrugged.

Tohru kept silent for a while.

“I can lend you my copy, if you want,” he offered with another shy smile. “I can even hide it behind a light novel cover,” he added with an embarrassed chuckle.

“Sounds great,” Mune nodded.

“I’ll bring it next week, then. Make sure to be here!” the kid said with a pleased grin.

“We’ll see about that.”

“I will _only_ bring it next week. If you’re not coming, it’s your loss,” the brat shrugged. “And I might not be free for long, so make sure not to be late.”

Mune huffed, unable to repress a smile. It was just like Tohru to use it as an excuse to make him come.

“I’ll try to be here,” he still replied evasively.

_He wasn’t going to let the brat have the upper hand so easily._

 

Tohru smiled. It wasn’t the answer he wanted, but it would do. They stayed together for a while, alternating between relaxed silences and small conversations, until Mune-san received a text that seemed pretty urgent.

“Gotta go. See you, kid!” he announced before leaving in a hurry.

“See you next week,” Tohru replied with a smile.

_Mune-san had never said ‘see you’ before. It had to be a good sign!_

He tried to go back to his novel, since the sun was still high and he wouldn’t be able to read it at home, but as always, all he could think of was the man who had just left, and the next Sunday to come.


	5. Mutual Trust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hell yeah, I'm on time for once!
> 
> Enjoy!

Tohru wasn’t supposed to react like this. He wasn’t supposed to grab Mune’s shirt and pull him closer, he wasn’t supposed to kiss him back, and he certainly shouldn’t be allowed to make these cute little noises every now and then.

“I could do anything I want, you know. The building is always empty on Sundays, and no one would hear you scream from up here,” he whispered in the brat’s ear, only earning a pleased moan as a reply.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. The kid should be scared and try to push him away. He should beg him to stop, now that Mune was kissing his neck, instead of putting a hand in his hair and encouraging him to keep going. He shouldn’t moan at the hands on his ass. He should try to stop Mune from going further, and yet he was doing the complete opposite.

_It almost scared him, how willing the brat was to let him have his way. How ironic…_

It had all started with that book. _1984_.

Mune had barely read ever since he dropped out of school. Not that he did it a lot before either, since his mother wasn’t the kind to “waste” her money on books when she could buy more drugs instead…

Anyway. If that novel wasn’t his favorite read of the year, it clearly had an impact. Tohru had warned him that it was grim and the characters were meaningless, but nothing could have prepared him for the feeling of frustration and hopelessness that filled him when he read the last few pages. He had even thrown the book across the room upon reading the final words, sitting on his bed in silence until Tsuda came and asked him what he was doing.

Waiting for the following Sunday to talk about it had been torture, especially since Mune couldn’t come the week before because he was busy, and so they ended up exchanging numbers. This had been his real mistake. This, and letting the kid lend him other books that he might like, thus giving them reasons to exchange texts during the week. Because of course, being surrounded by people as nosy as Masa or even Tsuda, there was no way his new habits would go unnoticed.

“Soooo, who’s this Tohru chick?” the sneaky bastards he called his friends had asked one day.

_At least, they thought the brat was a girl._

Mune had told them as little as possible, but it didn’t stop Masa from spreading rumors, and less than a week later, the entire clan probably knew about his “secret girlfriend” who was “into books and bad boys”.

Of course, telling Tohru about it had been another mistake. However, how could Mune have guessed that the brat would jokingly send him cute selfies in a pretty dress, with makeup and all?

_Tohru made a very convincing girl when he was like that, and his long, thin legs seemed made to wear short skirts._

However, it was still a shitty idea. What if the others saw these pictures? What if Mune decided to blackmail him?

_These pics could ruin his future, how did the kid not understand that?_

And this all led him to his last mistake, namely trying to scare the brat away by showing him how dangerous this whole flirting thing could be. But of course, Tohru was just a horny teenager with a crush. What did Mune expect?

“You’re really going to let me do this, aren’t you?” he asked against the kid’s ear, pinching his ass roughly.

Tohru whimpered with a firm nod, his eyes still closed and his breath heavy. The sight shouldn’t do anything to Mune, and yet it did.

_What the hell was wrong with him?_

He sighed, and stepped back.

“Okay kid, party’s over. You can go home,” he declared.

“Why did you stop?” the brat asked with an offended look.

“This is not happening.”

“You started it! I wanted to!”

“I was trying to make a point, and it flew right over your little head.”

“Your point wasn’t clear. It’s not like it’s the first time we’ve kissed,” the brat pointed out.

Mune sighed, looking away. He didn’t like being reminded of those times, but the kid had a point here. His kiss deal had been a huge mistake in the first place, without mentioning that one time he let Tohru have his way, even if it wasn’t for long…

“What? Are you scared you might like it?” the brat taunted with a smirk.

“It’s not a game, _kid,”_ Mune muttered.

“Stop calling me that!”

“It’s what you are.”

“I’m almost eighteen! When are you going to take me seriously?”

“Then stop acting like a brat and leave me alone! Do you have any idea what I could do with those pictures you sent?”

“So that’s what this was about? Of course I know! I sent them anyway because I trust you!”

“You shouldn’t! What part of ‘shady yakuza’ made you think you could trust me?”

There were many things Tohru could have said in return, and Mune knew it. The way the kid was struggling to find the words, starting a sentence and stopping in the middle, blushing all along, was a pretty good answer in itself.

_He shouldn’t have indulged in the brat’s crush. He was responsible for this._

“I know you’re not a bad person,” Tohru finally replied. “You’re willing to help people whenever you can. You’re always rooting for the good guys in stories. Even now, you’re trying to keep me safe, even if it’s against my will. Of course you wouldn’t use those pictures to blackmail me.”

_Shit, when did Mune let his guard down so much? Why did he let the kid see so much of him? Tsuda exempted, everyone thought of him as a tough guy who shouldn’t be messed with. And now, this brat was telling him that he wasn’t a bad person? Who was he kidding?!_

“What do you know about that?” Mune growled, surprised himself by how angry he was. “All you ever see is how I am on my days off. Do you have any idea of the sort of shit I do every other day?”

“It’s your job, though. Blackmailing a broke student isn’t.”

“Are you really going to dismiss everything with ‘it’s your job’?”

Tohru hesitated, trying to find something to reply.

“I don’t know, okay? That’s not the point! I just trust you!” he exploded.

He glared at Mune after that, looking for something that he probably didn’t find, because he just sighed and turned around to walk away.

“It’s getting late, I’m going home. See you,” he muttered.

“Yeah, you should rest. You have entrance exams at the end of the year, right?”

_Mune should just let him leave. Why couldn’t he do that?_

“Shut up, you sound like my parents,” the kid said softly, and even though he wasn’t facing him, Mune could tell that he had a tiny smile.

“I only have your best interests at heart,” he smirked.

“See? You’re nice!” the brat exclaimed, turning around with a shit-eating grin.

Mune couldn’t repress a laugh, and Tohru walked away after that, leaving him alone on the roof.

_So the kid trusted him, huh? How stupid of him._

And yet, if the brat knew so much about him, it was probably because, in a way, Mune trusted him too.

_How the hell did it happen?_


	6. Enters Kaoru

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everything is in the title: get ready for baby Kaoru!  
> Obviously, Adachi is bitter af, but I can never make him hate Kaoru for long ^^"
> 
> Please note that this chapter has only been half beta'd...
> 
> Enjoy!

Tohru was trying to read on his usual bench, waiting for Mune. It almost felt nostalgic, being here again. With his entrance exams coming soon, he didn’t have much free time, and it seemed that Mune was pretty busy as well, since the only texts Tohru got these days were to tell him not to bother showing up to their Sunday meetings.

_There was a time when Tohru would have come anyway, but he now trusted the guy and assumed that he wasn’t just trying to stay away from him. Plus, Mune still had his book, so he had to show up sooner or later._

Tohru read the same line for the third time in a row and gave up with a sigh. He was too tired to read, and too intrigued to focus. After all, it was the first time Mune texted specifically to ask him to come.

It had been hard to convince his parents that he needed some fresh air to change his mind, but he was grateful for the excuse to go out. He hadn’t realized until now how much he needed the pause, and even though the weather was still a bit chilly, it was pretty nice.

He closed his eyes and tried to enjoy the sun, but his mind kept coming back to Mune. Was he planning to take Tohru seriously once he was in college? Did he need help with something? It couldn’t be about how the book ended, because they had talked about it already, before they both became too busy to even text each other.

Tohru must have been a lot more tired than he thought, because he was starting to fall asleep when Mune finally arrived, and he jolted when he heard a greeting.

“Do you need sleep that much?” Mune teased as he sat next to him.

He sounded pretty tired himself, Tohru noted before he opened his eyes and turned to the newcomer.

The first thing he noticed was the baby, casually sitting on Mune’s lap and looking very pleased about it. Tohru immediately forgot everything he thought he knew, including how to breathe. He remembered how to blink and did so a few times until enough vocabulary came back for him to ask:

“What?”

He looked up to Mune, who had rings under his eyes so dark that they could probably absorb matter. They had already absorbed his long hair, it seemed.

_When did he cut it? Why was it so short now? How come it suited him so well?_

“This is Kaoru,” Mune finally announced, as if it was enough of an explanation.

“Since when do you have a kid?” Tohru asked, now that his ability to talk was back.

“About a month. Maybe two.”

“It doesn’t look two months old,” he pointed out.

_Not that he knew what he was talking about, of course. Maybe it was what a two-month old baby looked like, after all._

Mune sighed.

“It’s a long story,” he said, closing his eyes long enough for Tohru to wonder if he wasn’t going to fall asleep.

“I’m all ears,” he replied with crossed arms, feeling like he’d been cheated on this whole time.

_Mune better had a good explanation for this._

“He’s not mine, in case you’re wondering,” was the first thing he said, much to Tohru’s relief. “His mother left him. She tried to sell him for drug money or something, and when I wasn’t buying, she just dropped him and ran away.”

“Wow,” was all Tohru could reply. “But you don’t have to keep him. You can just bring him to a police station or an orphanage. Doesn’t your clan run one?”

“But if no one adopts him, he’ll end up like me. I don’t want that,” Mune replied stubbornly.

“Babies are adopted faster. Plus, I’m not sure it will be better if you’re still in the yakuza yourself.”

“That’s another thing I had to tell you. I quit.”

“What?” was Tohru’s immediate reply, quickly followed with: “Why? How? When?”

“I don’t want to raise him like that,” Mune explained. “And I’d rather not talk about what I had to do to leave the clan.”

“Fair enough…” Tohru pouted.

_He still took note that Mune had all his fingers intact, which only intrigued him more._

He stayed silent for a moment, while Mune obviously started falling asleep again, and asked:

“How are you doing? You look exhausted.”

“Kaoru wakes up a lot at night. And I’m living in a one-room flat for now. I need to find something better, but it’s all I could get in such a short time.”

“Kaoru, huh…” Tohru said slowly, sending the kid a hostile look.

_So that was why Mune was so busy. What was his problem, seriously? Who found a brat and just adopted it?_

“Something wrong?” Mune asked.

“Nah, I’m fine,” Tohru lied. “What’s your plan, though?”

“I don’t know exactly,” Mune admitted with a sigh. “I have some money left. I thought I could open a shop or something… I’ll have to find a proper place to live, too.”

He took out a lollipop from his pocket and unwrapped it with tense, irritated moves.

“This is new,” Tohru remarked.

“I quit smoking too. It’s not good for Kaoru.”

“It wasn’t good for me either. Never stopped you,” he retorted with pursed lips.

He knew he wasn’t being honest here. Mune had stopped smoking around him a long time ago, even when he was obviously craving a cigarette. Still, to think he quit for that kid and not for him made him angry.

Mune chuckled softly:

“You look like you’ve just bitten a lemon.”

He then took out another lollipop and offered it to him.

“You’re not going to win me over with candies,” Tohru hissed, sending him a death glare.

“Your loss then,” Mune shrugged. “But I don’t usually share, you know.”

Tohru grabbed it hastily and unwrapped it with the same irritated moves the other had earlier, although for different reasons. Mune’s amused smirk didn’t go unnoticed, but Tohru feigned to ignore it as he started sucking on the piece of candy with a pout. It was lemon-flavored.

They stayed silent while Tohru kept seething at the baby’s mere existence.

_How could that brat be sitting on Mune’s lap so casually? Did he realize how lucky he was? Was it going to be the last time Tohru saw Mune because he needed to disappear for a while or something? Was it how their relationship was going to end? Did he make him come here just to give back his book and say goodbye?_

“Look, I hate to say it but…” Mune started.

_Here it comes. All because of that stupid brat._

“…I might need your help.”

“What?” Tohru asked, almost dropping his lollipop as he stopped glaring at the baby to look at Mune.

“I can’t leave Kaoru alone. And I didn’t leave on good terms with my friends from the clan. I’m not going to ask for much, since I know you’re still busy with your exams and all, but if you have some time…”

“You want me to babysit him?” he asked when it became obvious that Mune was starting to regret bringing it up already.

_This was his chance. He didn’t know what he could do to help exactly, but he could sense it: this was the opportunity of a lifetime!_

“Or to help me find a babysitter, if you know someone. I don’t know.”

He sighed, looking even more exhausted than before, and Tohru understood two things: Mune was desperate for help, and he was turning to him because despite everything, he trusted him.

“Fine, I’ll help,” he said, feeling all warm and fuzzy at the thought.

Even Kaoru was starting to look cute, now that he was sleeping on Mune’s lap while the man watched him, his eyes full of love and tenderness.

_How could Tohru say no to this?_

“I can drop by at your place after school if you need. Or run errands. Or keep an eye on him when I’m free, which isn’t often at the moment but I’ll do my best. I’m almost done with entrance exams, so give me a week and I’ll be able to help more.”

Mune turned to him, and thanked him with a grateful smile.

“I’m not going to ask for much. I know you’re busy. And still a kid.”

He paused for a second and concluded:

“Not the best person to ask for help, huh…”

“You don’t have a lot of friends, do you?” Tohru sneered.

“Shut up, brat.”

So thanks to this kid, Mune needed him. And he would be looking for a flat…

_This was his chance! It would be cheaper if they were two, and Tohru already had a scholarship secured. If he could learn how to cook and do housework, then Mune would have to accept him._

He smiled.

_Maybe Kaoru wasn’t such a bad thing after all…_


	7. Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, almost the end (of this part)!
> 
> Today, Kaoru and Tohru interact.
> 
> Enjoy!

Tohru had never thought much of his family. He hadn’t seen his extended family in years, and he was never really close to his parents. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t have much of a hard time convincing them that he should find his own place after he graduated from high school. It was pretty much expected of him anyway, and his mother had guessed that it was his plan when he’d asked her to teach him how to cook. Come to think of it, he hadn’t come to visit them ever since he moved out…

In the end, the real struggle when Tohru left his parent’s house had been convincing Mune that moving in together was the best idea for the both of them.

_And now, Tohru was spending his long awaited ‘vacation’ taking care of a baby and changing diapers in his spare time. Why was he doing this to himself?_

He sighed as he took a small break from his paper. It wasn’t that he was jealous of his classmates who spent most of their free time drinking or partying; they seemed boring anyway. However, he’d never have expected during his high school years that he’d skip this whole part of his life and go directly to having a kid and no social life.

True, Kaoru wasn’t his. However, since Mune was working long hours at his newly opened airsoft shop and Tohru’s own schedule was pretty light, he was the one who took care of the kid the most during the day, and picked him up from daycare after his last period.

To be honest, he didn’t mind it as much as he used to. He had tried going out with his classmates, when Mune had told him that he could pick up Kaoru himself later and let him have some fun, but after years of studying almost nonstop, Tohru had soon realized that he didn’t even know how to. Instead, he just bought a video game console and played all the games he couldn’t have during his childhood. It was a nice way of enjoying his newfound free time, he found.

_It could have been perfect if it had just been Mune and him, but at the same time, he wouldn’t be here without Kaoru. Tohru was still a bit conflicted about that…_

Talking about the brat, he was currently crawling near him. He was walking a lot more now, but he wasn’t entirely comfortable with it yet.

“What do you want?” Tohru asked.

“U- Un-“ the kid babbled.

“Almost there,” Tohru encouraged halfheartedly.

_He didn’t have much faith. Kaoru always gave up on calling him “Uncle” halfway through, for some reason._

“To’u.”

_There it was._

“It’s me. What do you want?” he asked again.

“To’u,” the kid repeated stubbornly, using Tohru’s chair to stand up without breaking eye contact.

Tohru sighed. He’d given up on studying in his room because he knew Kaoru felt lonely easily and couldn’t be left out of sight, but he didn’t know what more he was supposed to do here. He had a paper to finish, and he wasn’t going to stop and play with the brat. He wasn’t even sure that it was what the little guy wanted.

“To’u,” Kaoru called a third time.

“Fine, fine, I’m coming,” he sighed.

_Maybe if he stood up, Kaoru would show him what he wanted?_

.

Mune closed the shop after another long day, wondering how Tohru was doing. His now boyfriend usually dropped Kaoru on him as soon as he got home, and locked himself in his room for a couple of hours after that, until the kid was in bed and it was just the two of them.

_It was funny how attached Tohru was to his bedroom when he’d told him that he wouldn’t use it now that he’d found his way to Mune’s. True, he never actually slept in it, but he still spent a lot of time there. Apparently, living with someone he liked didn’t make him more of a people person. No wonder he had no friends back in high school…_

Even now, Mune didn’t know why he accepted to share this flat with Tohru. He remembered what he thought when he gave in, namely that Tohru would probably invite himself over all the time and end up living there like some stray cat if Mune refused, but he knew that it was mostly an excuse. Plus, he was glad to have the extra help. Maybe the spoiled brat refused to get up at night when Kaoru had a nightmare and never changed diapers whenever there was someone else to do it, but he was still making his life a lot easier. The only thing Mune didn’t understand was why Tohru would do all this when he could just make friends in college and spend time with them like a normal student.

_Maybe he could find someone his age without a troubled past and a toddler at charge. It would sure be better for him, and Mune would understand, even though he’d come to hate the idea._

He’d always remember that one argument they had, before they moved in together (it was followed by many more of course, from who left dirty socks in the living room to what kind of games Tohru was allowed to play when Kaoru was around).

 _“Look, if we’re going to have this kid—”_ his future flatmate had started.

 _“We?”_ Mune had asked incredulously.

It was maybe why he gave in and accepted to live with Tohru, actually; because he was taking Kaoru into account in his argument.

Mune smiled when he reached his building. He could already imagine how Kaoru would toddle toward him while Tohru would just lean on the living room’s doorway, greeting him from afar as if he didn’t care that Mune was back, even though he’d obviously come over just to see him. This time, however, was different.

There was no answer when he opened the door and announced that he was back; no little footsteps rushing toward him and calling him with a delighted smile, and no boyfriend looking at him with a disinterested expression while Mune took his kid in his arms.

Surprised, he went to the living room, wondering if something had happened to them. He was immediately relieved when he found both of them there. Tohru was working on the small table, taking time to finish writing his sentence before looking up, and Kaoru was curled up on the floor by his side, his head on Tohru’s leg, fast asleep.

Mune’s heart melted.

“Welcome home,” Tohru whispered. “Sorry I didn’t come, I didn’t want to wake him up.”

“It’s okay,” he replied with a smile.

_He’d never realized until now how much he loved them._

He walked carefully behind Tohru and sat on the floor to hug him, wrapping his arms around Tohru’s waist and making sure not to disturb Kaoru. Surprised, his boyfriend stiffened. Mune couldn’t blame him. He wasn’t particularly into hugs and almost never initiated them, but now was a special occasion.

_Plus, Tohru wasn’t really demanding either, except when it came to sex because, to quote his own words, he “didn’t wait two years for nothing”._

“I’m glad you’re here,” Mune muttered against his shoulder.

Tohru relaxed completely against him with a sigh of content.

“Me too,” he replied. “I forgot to cook dinner, though…”

“What?” Mune growled.

“I didn’t realize it was this late, and Kaoru was asleep, so…”

Mune sighed. He could start another argument, but it would ruin his little moment of happiness.

“Fine. We can make it together,” he said.

“Sure,” Tohru smiled. “Let me just finish this paragraph.”

Mune didn’t want to move, though, so he ignored Tohru’s protests and stayed like this a bit longer, enjoying the special warmth he felt whenever he got to spend some quiet time with these two. He kissed Tohru’s neck for good measure, and chuckled when his boyfriend stiffened again and grumbled about losing his focus. It didn’t stop Mune, though.

After spending his childhood with a junkie single mother and most of his teenage years in the yakuza, he’d never really understood the concept of family. And even though an adopted son and a boyfriend who carved a way to his heart like an adventurer through the jungle aren’t the typical image people had of a perfect family unit, Mune wouldn’t have it any other way.


	8. Enters Mashu

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we go for the last chapter!  
> Enjoy!

Mune was being followed. He had noticed a little while ago, somewhere on his way to work, but he hadn’t decided what to do about it yet. His new stalker wasn’t really making an effort to hide, focusing instead on not being distanced by his long strides. They were persistent for sure, but Mune couldn’t tell what they wanted from him.

_It hadn’t happened since Tohru, now that he thought about it… Maybe he had a new secret admirer?_

Intrigued, he decided to walk all the way to the shop for once, wondering if his follower would give up halfway through or keep going until they reached the shop. If the problem wasn’t solved by the time Mune arrived at Untouchable, he could deal with it there. It was one of the good things about being in a side street, after all.

Once he reached his destination, Mune turned around. The tiny dog was still a few steps away from him, visibly out of breath and more hesitant, now that it knew it had been spotted. Mune sighed, feeling a bit guilty for having made the little guy keep up with him for so long. It was the size of a lap dog, and it looked exhausted.

He squatted down and offered his hand, but it seemed that the dog didn’t think further than ‘follow the big guy who walks faster than most people’. It looked wary of him, even though it was the one who had followed him for about half an hour. When it didn’t show any signs of coming closer, Mune stood up and opened the shop, only going back out to put a small bowl of water by the door. The dog was still there, looking at him hopefully while sitting at a respectable distance, so Mune walked back in, keeping an eye on the little guy from inside the shop.

Given its apparent lack of collar and its long matted fur that must have been white before it became so dirty, it was obviously lost. And since Mune had nothing better to do that morning, he spent some time looking up lost dogs in the neighborhood. He didn’t find anything, but when he looked outside, he noticed that the little fur ball was now next to the bowl of water, lapping it as if its life depended on it.

_Maybe it really did. Who knew when the last time was it had gotten to drink?_

Once the bowl was empty, Mune went out to refill it and put it further away from the shop, so that the dog wasn’t scared away by the customers. He didn’t know why he was doing this, or what he was planning to do if the tiny fur ball got attached to him, but he couldn’t leave it on its own when it obviously needed help. Plus, he’d always liked dogs. He was more into big ones, but a dog was a dog, no matter how small.

He bought some dog food at the convenience store around the corner during his lunch break and left it with the water. This time, his new friend ran toward it and wolfed it down without waiting for Mune to leave, and he took advantage of it to look for a collar that might have been hidden beneath the thick fur. As expected, it didn’t have one.

By the time he closed the shop, Mune had found an available vet nearby and texted Tohru to say he would be a bit late. He was glad to see that the little dog seemed to trust him enough to let him take it there without a fight. The visit turned out to be unnecessary, but he still learned a few important things: it was a healthy female, and it wasn’t chipped, so there was no way to find her owner, if she had one.

Of course, Mune could have left her with the vet, who would have placed her in a shelter. It was the logical thing to do, since he wasn’t ready to have a dog. However, he could also have dropped Kaoru at an orphanage, and he was even less ready for a baby back then than he was for a dog now.

He said he’d be fine and took her home, wondering what he was going to tell Tohru and Kaoru.

.

Tohru was very attached to his family. That was why he’d decided to become a cop, after all*. This way, he could make sure no one looked too much into Mune’s past or into Kaoru’s adoption, meaning that he could protect them in his own way.

_His boyfriend had been against it, at first, since he hated cops more than anything, but he still told him to do whatever he wanted and had even helped him study from time to time._

Even though he still had parents and other family members alive, Tohru’s family was a very restricted unit in his mind: it was Mune, Kaoru, and him. The three of them were “bound by the gecko”, as Mune had said when he got that gecko tattoo for his kid’s sake and gave Tohru a silver palming coin with the same symbol engraved on it.

He wasn’t going to accept any fourth member, and he was pretty sure he wouldn’t have to anyway. It wasn’t like these kinds of things just happened, after all.

Or at least, so he thought until Mune came back that evening with a dirty little gremlin under his arm, announcing with an embarrassed look:

“So… Unless we find her owner soon, we have a dog.”

_Of course, things could never go his way for long…_

.

When they couldn’t find the dog’s owner after two weeks, Mune brought her back to the vet to have her chipped and vaccinated. Just like for Kaoru, he wanted to do things right.

She looked completely different, now that she was clean and well nourished. She had the fluffiest white fur that was typical for Pomeranians—which she was at least partially—and she was a lot more trusting. She had accepted Kaoru after just a couple of days, probably because he was the only person her size in the house (although he was growing fast; he’d start attending elementary school in just a few months after all), and it seemed that the kid liked his new friend as well. Tohru, however, had been another story…

He wasn’t openly against her, but he was still pretty hostile to the newcomer. Mune wouldn’t have expected it from him, but there was no other way to put it. Tohru avoided her all the time, refused to walk her, ignored her whenever she tried to be friendly, and he had that triumphant look whenever he closed the door of their shared bedroom to her face at night. He was treating her like a rival, somehow.

As he sat in the waiting room with the little dog on his lap, ignoring the surprised looks he got from the other people there who probably didn’t expect someone like him to have such a tiny pet, Mune wondered how he could make things better between them.

.

“How r we callin the dog? I need 2 kno asap”

Tohru got this message during his lunch break at the station and frowned. He knew that Mune had planned to take the mutt to the vet and chip it, but he thought his boyfriend at least had a name in mind. He should have expected it to need one to be registered. And how was _Tohru_ supposed to know how to call it? It wasn’t his dog, and he didn’t even like it in the first place.

“Dunno. Any ID?” he replied.

“No dumass thats y im askin”

Tohru rolled his eyes.

“Gremlin?”

“No way. Im bein serious here!”

“White fluff?”

“I said serious”

“Mashed potatoes?”

“Srsly?”

“It looks lik mashd potatos” he wrote with a smirk.

“Lets call her Mashu”

Tohru pouted. It sounded a bit too good for the little gremlin but sure, why not? It wasn’t like Mune would like any of the other names he had in mind anyway.

“k” he replied with a defeated sigh.

Tohru had tried his best to find suitable owners for all this time (or any potential owner, really), but it seemed that this intruder was here to stay.

.

Now that Mashu was officially his, Mune got used to a slightly different routine upon coming home. First, his dog would rush toward him and demand pets. Then, Kaoru would come behind her to welcome him with a happy smile, and finally, he’d see Tohru in his usual spot by the doorway, unless he was still working at the station.

That day, however, none of the three happened. It was surprising, since Tohru had assured him that his shift made him finish early, meaning that he’d picked up Kaoru from school; and Mashu should have been around no matter what. Mune walked toward the living room with a worried frown, only to find Tohru in the same position as a few years ago, when Kaoru was still a toddler. He was working on a file at the small table, with an older Kaoru asleep next to a picture book on one side, and Mashu curled up against his thigh on the other.

Mune smiled.

“So, did you cook dinner this time?” he asked in a hushed tone.

“Of course I have,” Tohru huffed with a falsely offended look.

“Good,” Mune replied as he sat down at the other side of the table.

Tohru kept working for a moment before putting down his pen.

“You know, I think Mashu needs a proper collar,” he declared.

“She already has one,” Mune retorted, wondering where Tohru was going with this.

“Yes, the cheap one you bought when we still thought we weren’t going to keep her. I was thinking about a better one.”

Mune smiled as he started putting the pieces together.

“You have something specific in mind?” he asked with an amused look.

“She’s part of the family. So I thought maybe we could get her something with a gecko?”

“That’s a good idea,” he nodded.

Of course, Mune had thought about it more than once. However, since Tohru was still a bit hostile toward Mashu, even when he was basically the one who named her, Mune didn’t want to impose her even more. He thought Tohru would accept her in his own time, and it seemed that he’d been right.

Mashu moved in her sleep, and Tohru scratched her head lightly.

“I think the pet shop is open on Sundays. We could get her one then,” Mune offered.

Tohru nodded, and he smiled, glad that their family now had another full member (although it wouldn’t become official until Mashu got her new collar).

Back when he was still in the yakuza, Mune’s _oyabun_ had once called him a protector, someone who drew his strength from the ones under his care. It had made most of the people who knew him laugh. Mune himself didn’t understand why someone would say such a thing about him.

He only understood the meaning of those words now, after he’d left the clan for a stranger’s baby that was dropped on him, and took in a tiny dog, even though he was never planning to have one. It had even started earlier than that, when he’d accepted to hang out with a lonely kid who had decided to take him as a role model for some reason.

_Tohru was the strangest of the three though, and the help was more balanced than Mune would ever want to admit._

So what if he didn’t want a weird teen in his life? What if he had no idea how to take care of a kid? What if he looked ridiculous when he was walking a tiny ball of white fluff that barely reached his calf? All three had needed him at some point, they all made him a better person in their own ways, and he loved them all the more that he’d never expected them to become a part of his life.

_His family was getting weirder and weirder, huh… But once again, he wouldn’t have it any other way._

* * *

*Besides his childhood dream of having a gun of course, but with his customizing skills, Mune could do it for him anyway. The gun nerd in Tohru would never be thankful enough to be dating the owner of an airsoft shop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this story! I hope you had a good time. Feel free to tell me what you thought!
> 
> Part 2 will be available in the next few weeks. It's Persona 4, except Adachi isn't the killer.  
> Here's a little teaser:
> 
>  
> 
> _“So you’re telling me that she’s vanished and you just walked home?” Mune asked after Tohru had told him everything about his shitty day._  
>  “What else was I supposed to do? My task was to scare away people who might come to bother her at the inn, not to make sure she stayed inside. She’ll be back when she’s hungry or something.”  
> “She’s a human being, Tohru, not a cat.”  
> “Yeah, so she’ll definitely find her way back.”


End file.
